In class today we talked about how The Beats and how they were constantly wandering from place to place. Why do you think they did that? What was the point/end goal? We'll talk about this some more in the next couple of days but I'd like to get a general impression about people's feeling on the subject.
In this section we also see more description of Cassady and his frantic driving. Describe what effect if any this information has had on you.
Also talk about any moments that stood out to you and why they did so. Use a quote or two to further eleborate maybe.
For one, I think The Beats didn't have an end game. They did what they did just to break barriers. I don't think anyone ever had a destination. I think they found their purpose on the road and the experiences they had. Main purpose probably to just be happy and free. They were tired of the normal. They wanted to drop their responsibilities. They wanted to feel in control of their lives.
ReplyDeleteWhen Cassady was driving I felt like I was there. I feel free. I felt the air blowing my hair back. I felt happy. The writing made me feel happy. It gave me a taste of the feeling Cassady felt, happy. His driving felt wild and reckless but in a good way. None of them are concerned about his diving they are just living in the moment.
Something that stood out of me was Dean's regret about what went down with him and Marylou. I don't understand his change of heart.
"He suddenly had an explosive yen to see his sweet first wife Marylou again." Right after I read that I wrote sex. Next thing you know, "They had ten hours of wild lovemaking". Dean still just cares about sex (big shocker!). It was funny to see mention of Southerners and how they don't like any type of mad. So obviously not liking Dean. "There was no purpose in our coming downtown, but he found purposes." Referring back to my thought about them not having a goal or destination. Whatever happened in the road determined what happened next and that's the beauty of it: you never know what's going to happen.
I think that the Beats wandered from place to place because they were looking for an adventure, or they were looking for a story to tell. I think that if you constantly wander from place to place you will not only see the good, but you will also see the bad parts of America. By wandering around, the Beats could have found the bad things that America was doing and write about them. They didn’t have a final destination or end goal of it all.
ReplyDeleteWhen Dean is driving, we obviously see someone who is free and doesn’t mind breaking the law. He is free to go wherever he wants, and he does that. This section showed me how happy and free Dean was, and at times his lifestyle was appealing.
A moment that stuck with me was when Dean decided to just go and see Marylou again. “He was roaring through Las Cruces, New Mexico, when he suddenly had an explosive yen to see his sweet first wife Marylou again.” This stuck with me because it showed that Dean could go and do anything he felt like doing. If he wants to change the course and stop in Denver, he can do that. The freedom that Dean has is something that I think most people would like to have.
I think that one of the purposes for The Beats constantly wandering from place to place to break out of a sense of normality. In a way, the impression I'm getting (especially from Cassady), is that there is almost a type nomadic lifestyle portrayed especially in the reading. However, reading this, I didn’t sense a negative connotation to Cassady’s lifestyle. In fact, I almost enjoyed it. Even though part of me questioned it all, there was a sense of control that Cassady had that I admired. It was as though they dropped the habits and expectations of a “typical lifestyle” and did things the way they wanted and enjoyed. Even reading the assignment, I felt thrilled. I had fun. For example, Cassady’s frantic driving didn’t make me feel as though it was dangerous. Im sure it was, but while reading it, it was exciting and exhilarating. Almost like the suspense one feels when a rollercoaster goes down a steep slope. One quote that represented this and stood out to me was, “sometimes he had no hands on the wheel and yet the car went straight as an arrow, not for once deviating from the white line in the middle of the road that unwound, kissing out left front tire”.
ReplyDeleteI think that part of the reason I was quick to question Cassady in the beginning is because I am personally used to routine and structure in my own everyday life. However, maybe on of the points that The Beats are trying to make is; control does not always have to fit into a certain way of living. Control comes from doing what one personally pleases and finds exhilarating.
I believe this is a wandering generation of people for a reason. They seem to be the transition generation from this “ideal society” to a group that focuses on the freedom and carefree aspects of life. They are the transition into the counterculture, and are our first glimpse into a rebelhood. They are intentionally stepping far away from societal norms for their individual happiness and even spontaneity. This is what is inspirational within this group. I think that part of the reason of stepping out of a society overall is to not settle down. If you don’t let yourself create a routine in your own and other people's lives, it accomplishes the goal of freedom much more efficiently and effectively. It seems to be a way of this group to surround themselves with others like them, cutting all constraints one would otherwise have in a working society.
ReplyDeleteRelating to this, this section seemed like it was more thought out, but still had a lot of subtleties of the last section we read. For instance, on page 103, he writes, “he suddenly had an explosive yen to see his first wife Marylou again.” This is an example of the spontaneity that seems to go hand in hand with this lifestyle that these people are living. This line probably stuck out to me the most because of this idea of spontaneity. The next couple of pages, however, stood out to me in a different way. They seemed more focused on the real hazards in life. It says, “Dean had been driving 90; now he has to stick to a steady 70…” This seems like a small voice of reason coming out in the writing, which is surprising to me.
I think the beats constantly moved from place to place because they wanted to fully experience life. They wanted to do everything, see everything, and feel everything. They never stopped or slowed down, especially Dean/Neal. The beats wanted to explore and go on adventures. They found the typical “Ideal American” Levittown 1950s lifestyle boring and meaningless. The beats were restless and got bored if they stayed in one place for to long. They didn’t want to follow the clear cut, narrow path that the society expected them to follow. They wanted to carve their own path. They wanted to be individuals. They didn’t want to be just like everyone else. They wanted to find meaning in life, and that experience was really exciting and wild. They loved that wild lifestyle. They didn’t want to be tied down to one place or restrained by a house, family, job, societies expectations, or anything else. They wanted to be able to go wherever they wanted whenever they wanted. They wanted to be free.
ReplyDeleteDean does whatever he wants. He wanted to visit Sal, so he drove from San Francisco to Virginia without much thought. He does not feel obligated to do anything for anyone. He has no restrictions. Being able to drive gives him the freedom to go wherever he wants. He doesn’t have to be stuck in one place. I think the reason he stole cars when he was a teen was because he wanted the freedom to be able to chose where he wanted to be. Sal said “He seemed to be doing everything at the same time.” Dean wanted to see the world. He was constantly moving. He wanted to see everything. He wanted to live a full, adventurous life. He was “mad about life.”
A line that stood out to me was, “I had been spending a quiet Christmas in the country, as I realized when we got back in the house and I saw the Christmas tree, the presents, and smelled the roasting turkey and listened to the talk of the relatives, but now the bug was on me again, and the bug’s name was Dean Moriarty, and I was off on another spurt on the road.” This line depicts how Sal was conflicted between the “normal,” “Ideal American,” stable lifestyle and the wild, free, unstable, beat lifestyle.
I think the beats continued to move around because they had a strong desire for adventure and experience. I also think that the beats had a desire to meet new people with new ideas. Different people's perspectives allowed the beats to add more to their "madness" and helped the beats learn more about themselves. I think that the beats continued to travel because they were afraid to stop. If they stopped traveling, their inspiration and passion could burn out, so they continued to experience and adventure into new worlds to inspire their writing and minds. I also think that people outside the beats were considered slow moving and boring by the beats. I love how Kerouac contrasts his family to the madness of Dean. Kerouac writes," "I had been spending a quiet Christmas in the country... but now the bug was on me again, and the bug's name was Dean Moriarty...". Kerouac seemed to be living in a bubble of normality, and he was just waiting for the bubble to be popped and interrupted by Dean's madness. I think this idea parallels with the beat generation, of never being satisfied with being around "normal" people in an average life. The beats wanted to be interrupted with madness and new perspectives to stop them from falling into normality. Dean's driving demonstrates how he cannot stand still, and he constantly needs new environments, people, perspectives, and inspirations. Dean has no restrictions and can do whatever he wants when he wants. Dean's driving shows how he has complete control of his life and is just doing what makes him feel good. Dean's driving and his sense of freedom was very appealing to me. The idea of doing things not because you have to but because you want to is very different from high school. I think that right now in our lives, we all have a very structured idea of what we are supposed to do and we are taught to worry about the future. Dean challenges this idea by savoring each moment of life and being completely free.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion the Beats moved around constantly to search for new experiences. The Beats (especially Cassady) were not tethered down to an area. This meant that when new oppurtunities arose or when a city got boring they could wander to the next place. The Beats were constantly looking for the next adventure. With each adventure led new and interesting people and new inspiration. Without their constant wandering, the Beats would run out of ideas and inspiration.
ReplyDeleteDean's driving is reflective of his personality. He drives fast, free, and frantic. These words could also be used to describe his personality and way of life. He isn't held down by anything or anyone and his driving reflects that.
I think that part of being a beat is not feeling as though you fit in any particular place. Even among the other members of their generations they had horrible fallings-out, and though there were many places that they would often return to, the only true home for them was the road. The road itself does not offer them sanctuary and happiness and stability, but in fact the opposite. Danger, adventure, the ability to go anywhere as fast as they like, visit any hidden corner accessible by road, do anything they want, and nothing forcing them in any one direction except for their own physical needs. There is no real end to their journey, the endpoint is the road, the travel the adventure.
ReplyDeleteCassidy’s driving is a pretty good way of portraying who Cassidy is. He drives like he lives, fast, dangerous, and he can do it however he pleases. I think it gave me insight to him a bit more. It’s not that he doesn’t care about other people, it’s just that Cassidy does whatever he wants to, and he wants to drive fast so he does. He wants to live as fast as he drives, which he does. He’s an enjoyer of life, doing everything he can, wringing every ounce of joy out of life until it finally ends.
I think that the moment that stood out to me most is when they’re driving through Las Cruces and Dean just decides to go see Marylou. The spontaneity of his decision just further shows how radically unattached he is. While going to Virginia to get Sal, he just decides to backtrack north for a good ways to go see Marylou just for the hell of it. He gives in to any and every whim he feels, from Marylou to using up at least two years worth of savings to buy a car and take off, away from his wife and daughter. The lack of resistance to temptation and impulse control defines Cassidy, and those moments capture that very well.
The Beats wandered from place to place because, as we continue to discuss in class, they were searching for an intangible greater meaning that lay outside of their comfort zones. Routine was stifling, and an average day-to-day life was death. The Beats traveled because they simply wanted to experience all that their world had to offer.
ReplyDeleteAs many of my classmates have already stated, Kerouac describes Dean's driving without any implication of danger, but with excitement and glee. We have no concern for his safety, as it is only the logical extension of the fast-paced life he lives, and the madcap adventures that are to come. "Sometimes," Kerouac tells us, "[Dean] had no hands on the wheel and yet the car went straight as an arrow." The magical nature of Dean's control over the car calls to mind the Beats' frequent invocations of the divine and supernatural.